Demonstrating Value Blog

In the space of weeks, countless community-based organizations have had to shift what they are doing while being faced with reduced staff hours, fewer volunteers, disruptions to revenue, social distancing restrictions and other constraints.  Yet the demand and need for many services that non-profits and social enterprises deliver are high.  New needs are emerging, and many programs are being introduced.    Across the community – in health care delivery, social services, education, to name a few – we are witnessing a great deal of creativity and experimentation in (re)designing programs. 

Impact and performance measurement practices that rely on clearly articulated goals, a plausible theory of change, and attention to performance metrics attached to goals, are not particularly useful in this complex and rapidly...

A goal of impact measurement is to be able to clearly identify and measure the net, positive effects that result directly from the activities of an initiative, program or social enterprise.   This could make it clearer for impact investors about what they invest in, what strategies and models are most effective, and how to replicate and scale what matters. 

Clearly establishing net impact and the influence of a program’s activities on an outcome has been a huge challenge in this field.   A ‘gold standard’ of research and evaluation, the randomized control trail, is often held up as the standard to which we should aspire.  (For example, see NESTA’s Standards of Evidence.)  In a nutshell, two groups of people are chosen at random, and only one participates in new program, while the other does not. (A variation of this is where multiple groups are involved).  Participants in the...

The Common Appoach to Impact Measurment, an initiative led by Carleton University's Centre for Community Innovation is convening a community of non profits, social purpose organizations (SPOs), grant makers, investors and academics to build a better way to measure social impact.  The initiative is profiled in this blog posting last  summer. 

The Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) is hosting a free webinar on March 12 at 1:00 pm (Eastern Daylight Time) to introduce the Common Approach. In this webinar, they will explore how the Common Foundations were derived and how they can help evaluators, consultants, and trainers guide organizations to improved impact measurement.  You can also find out more about a...

This blog is the second of a series which highlights collaborative projects in Canada that have sought to make sense of impact measurement for social enterprises and other community-based organizations, and to advance new tools and common methods. 

The Common Approach to Impact Measurement is a community of non profits, social enterprises, grant makers, investors and academics “building a better way to measure social impact.” It emerged from Ontario’s Social Enterprise Strategy 2016-2021 that led to the creation of an Impact Measurement Task Force. The task force resulted in a report which recommended a ‘common approach’ to impact measurement that is intended to provide a foundation for sector-...